Type: Perennial, Broadleaf

Range: Throughout the United States and Southern Canada.

APPEARANCE: Broadleaf platain has gray-green, egg-shaped, wavy-edged leaves growing in ground-hugging rosettes. Narrow seed heads appear in a long cluster on a central, upright stem.

GROWTH: Rosettes appear in mid-spring in thin and weakened turf. Seed stalks rise from early summer through September. The rosette has a tendency to suffocate desireable lawn grasses. Plantain grows from seed resprouting roots. Seed germinates best in rich, moist, compacted soil.

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Type: Perenial, Broadleaf

Range: Throughout the United States.

Appearance: Everyone recognizes the bright yellow flowers of dandelions; they appear in early spring and are followed by puffy seed heads. They arise from rosettes of lance-shaped leaves.

Growth: Dandelions emerge in early spring, with flowering commencing as early as April and continuing through summer and fall. The plants reproduce from a long taproot, and from seeds. Seedlings can germinate at any time throughout the growing season.

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Type: Annual, Grassy

Range: Throughout the United States, especially cooler regions, and in parts of Canada.

Appearance: Often called bristlegrass and sometimes mistaken for crabgrass, green foxtail is a bunch-like semierect grass. it often has a reddish tint and grows 1 to 2 feet tall. The seed heads are dense and bristly. The seeds sprout from midspring to early summer. Leaves are hairy on top and flat, but sometimes appear twisted.

Growth: Geminates when soil tempurature reaches 65°F, and grows vigorously through summer. Foxtail dies with the first killing frost. Growth is most vigorous in closely mowed, thin turf that is watered and fertilized frequently in summer.

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Type: Perenial, Broadleaf

Range: Eastern half of the Untied States.

Appearance: Also known as creeping charlie, creeping ivy, and all-over-the-ground, this member of the mint family sports round, bright green, kidney-shaped leaves on hallow stems. Lavender, funnel-shaped flowers appear in clusters from early spring through summer.

Growth: Originally introduced as a ground cover, this plant spreads rapidly by creeping stems that root at the nodes. It grows actively from early spring through fall, in sun and shade, as long as the soil is damp. Ground ivy does particularaly well in poorly drained areas, It reproduces from seed and stems that root easily upon soil contact, and can crowd out desirable grasses.

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Type: Annual, Broadleaf

Range: Throughout the United States, especially troublesome east of the Mississippi River.

Appearance: Sprawling, thick, fleshy stems with rubbery leaves. Tiny, yellow, five-petaled flowers open when the sun is shining brightly. Cup-shaped seedpods produce many small, black seeds that may lie dormant in the soil for years. Seldom found in the spring when the lawn is treated for other weeds.

Growth: Thrives in hot, dry weather, spreading by sprawling stems. It's extremely troublesome in thin areas of the lawn or in anew lawns seeded in summer.

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Type: Perennial, grassy

Range: Throughout the United States except in the extreme South.

Appearance: Quackgrass is characterized by light green to blue-green coarse blades that are rough on their upper surface. if not mowed, it can grow up to 3 feet high. Roots can grow 5 feet or more in a single season. Narrow flower spikes rising from the plant resemble rye or wheat. The plant spreads by large, white rhizomes.

Growth: Quackgrass grows quickly in spring and fall. It is especially vigorous in thing, undernourished turf. Though it sometimes goes unnoticed in early spring, quackgrass becomes quite obvious as it turns brown in summer.

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Type: Perennial, Broadleaf

Range: Nothern half of the United States.

Appearance: Once regularly included as an ingredient in lawn seed mizes, low-growing white clover is characterized by its three-part leaves and white blossoms resembling pom-poms. Though it may be considered attractive, it enteres dormancy early in the fall and during periods of drought, leaving unsightly brown parches in the lawn.

Growth: Clover emerges from dormancy in early spring and spreads by aggressive above-and-below-ground stems. it also reproduces by seeds. It continues to grow into the fall, as long as moisture levels are adequate, and it is especially aggressive in high-phosphorus soils.

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Type: Annual or perennial, broadleaf

Range: Throughout the United States.

Appearance: Oxalis closely resembles clover with its three-part, heart-shaped leaflets. As flowers mature, cucumber-shaped light reen seedpods take their place. When pods are completely dry. the slightest touch will send its seeds scattering for several feet in all directions.

Growth: Grows most vigorously in spring and late summer to fall, especially in moist, fertile soild. This upright annual (which sometimes acts like a perennial) sends out roots from its lower nodes.

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